Best Budget Cymbal Pack

As you start your drumming journey, you will need to create your perfect drum set, and one of the most important items are your cymbals. Cymbals come in large varieties that serve different purposes in your music. You will need to find the right ones, or the combination of right ones, that will allow you to play the kind of music you want to pursue as best as possible. In this guide we will guide you to the best budget friendly cymbals packs out there that can provide the best quality sound with little dents to your wallet. First and foremost, let’s briefly talk about the different types of cymbals out there.

The Main Types of Cymbals:

  • The Ride: These are used for keeping time and are considered by many as one of the greatest cymbals out there due to their reputation for bringing out the drummer’s voice.
  • The Crash: Think of them as the exclamation mark of drumming!! As you can tell from the name, they produce loud crash sounds that are vital in Classic Rock music.
  • The Splash: These cymbals are pretty much the Crash’s cheap cousins. However, they are not only used to create accents; they can also be used for the creation of special effects.
  • The High Hat: This is made up of a pair of cymbals that are mounted on a tension rod and are inverted on each other. They are mainly used for keeping time, like the Ride.
  • The China: They are another type of accent capable of producing a highly bright crash. They look like typical cymbals that are turned upside down.

Now that we have a better understanding of the different main types of cymbals out there, let’s discuss some of the best drum cymbals and cymbal packs for a drummer with a budget. Keep in mind that while right now the different kinds and large variety of starter packs may be confusing, it’s actually very easy to understand and make a decision about.

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1. Zildjian ZBT Starter Box Review

The name Zildjian is basically a synonym for quality when it comes to cymbals. It is by far the oldest name in the game and it earns great respect and demand in the market. They produce some of the best and most expensive cymbals in the market. However, they also create high quality cymbals that are quite affordable. The cheapest base pack of Zildjian Cymbals available are the Zildjian ZBT Starter Box, which provide the best value at its reasonable price range. When you open the packaging you will find an 18’’ crash ride, a 13’’ hi-hat, and a bonus 14’’ crash. As you can tell from the name, for someone who is just starting their drumming journey, this is a great cymbal to have. If you wish to compliment this pack, we would recommend that you also buy a Zildjian ZBT Splash/China 2 pack.

For a beginner with a budget, this package deal is exactly what you need, and one that you can trust. As was the case with many drummers before, you might choose to stick with the Zildjian brand and buy more of their more expensive and higher quality products as you progress in your drumming career. To some, it has three main pros: good price, great and trusty brand, and you only require two packs to have a full starter set of cymbals. On the other hand, its two cons are that it is a bit more expensive than the Sabian, which we will discuss below, and the cymbals in the Starter Box are smaller than cymbals in the Sabian performance pack.

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2. Sabian SBr Performance Pack Cymbals Review

Over the years drummers have come to believe in the high quality associated with the Sabian name. The Sabian SBr kit manages to strike a delicate balance between being a fantastic foundation kit for novice players and being quite useful for more experienced drummers that do not have the money for top notch cymbals. The SBr performance kit comes with a wonderful 20’’ ride a 14’’ hi-hat and a 16’’ crash. An important function that gives the Sabian SBr a huge advantage is that each of these cymbals are sonically matched. Being sonically matched means that they have been tested and matched to give the best collective sound.

A downside though is that unlike the Zildjian, the Sabian does not have a Splash and China duel pack on Amazon. You will have to buy them individually, which will cost you more, but you’ll be getting a higher quality overall. To sum up, the Sabian SBr Performance pack has three pros; they produce high quality sound, wonderful for beginners and more experienced players, and they are currently the best affordable cymbals for sale. The one con that we can think of is that the Splash and the China cymbals do not come as a pack.

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3. Meinl Cymbals HCS1314+10S HCS Pack Cymbal Box Set

If affordability is your biggest concern, then the HCS pack from Meini is the right one for you. It is by far the cheapest good set of cymbals out there. Despite the fact that they cost only two thirds as much as the Sabian set, they have received amazing reviews and ratings from users. Numerous reviewers were pleasantly surprised by the high quality of its sound, despite its cheap price. However unlike the previously reviewed two sets, the Meini box set does not include a cheap ride cymbal.

The Meini comes with a 14” crash cymbal, 13” hi-hats, and a bonus 10” splash. Those who are more inclined to play rock music over jazz would find this combination to be perfect for them. The downside is that you will need to buy ride cymbals and china cymbals separately. To sum it up, the three pros are that Meini set is the cheapest one with quality, comes with tutorial videos for beginners, and produces surprisingly good sound. The cons are that it does not come with ride cymbals and appeals to produce less styles in music.

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4. Wuhan Western Style Cymbals

Wuhan are generally seen as the kings of cheap cymbals. Wuhan Western Style cymbals are hand hammered cymbals made by Wuhan, a company based in Wuhan, China. So while the idea of “made in China” may turn you off from buying the cymbal pack, trust us, they are better than you would think. These are possibly the cheapest pack of cymbals you can buy right now. If the affordability of a pack of cymbals is a really important factor for you, this may be the best pack for you right now. Wuhan Western style cymbals are hand hammered and not machined; hand hammering a pack of cymbals is generally an expensive process that you usually only see in high end cymbals. Due to the manufacturing of this symbol pack, you can get the quality of hand hammered cymbals at an incredibly competitive price. Another interesting thing about this pack is the fact that is made of B20 bronze. The added benefit of this is the richer, often darker sound you can get from B20 bronze cymbals. Finally the pack comes with its own carrying bag which makes it a pretty convenient buy if you don’t have your own.

It’s not all wonderful though. The hand hammered style means that there’s a difference of sounds between different cymbals and different packs. This is more apparent when compared to other hand hammered cymbals because of the manufacturing process.

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5. Dream Ignition; A More Advanced choice

This one isn’t a budget pack as much as a good pack of cymbals to get for an enthusiast. Dream Ignition is a starter pack made by Dream. Dream is generally well known for making incredibly high quality cymbals. This reputation carries over to their beginner cymbal pack as well. Making this one of the more expensive cymbal packs, but most definitely worth every penny.

Like the Wuhan set, Dream Ignition is made of hand hammered B20 bronze. You will get a similar rich and dark sound from the B20 Bronze as you would from the Wuhan set, although at a much more consistent and higher quality. While it may initially seem that these are identical to the Wuhan Western pack, the difference in price shows how much better the Dream manufacturing process is. What this means is that the Dream ignition tends to have much less differences in their sound. So you end up with a pack that sounds consistent and doesn’t have strange differences between the sounds of one cymbal and another. This also means you can expect all Dream Ignition sets to sound roughly the same and not have large varieties in the sound.

Other reasons why the Dream ignition costs as much as it does is the fact that the construction of these symbols is generally excellent. They also come with their own bag for added convenience. The one obvious drawback of this set is the price. The cost is much more than you would expect to pay for a beginner cymbal

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6. Paiste PST 5

The PST 5 is the beginner option of Paiste cymbal packs. It’s a great option for affordability and it is a great all-rounder when it comes to cymbal packs. Unlike the Wuhan and the Dream Ignition, the PST 5 is not a hand hammered cymbal pack, made through a more standard manufacturing processing. The good thing about the pack is it does a little bit of everything. It is pretty affordable, and at the same time sounds very good. The construction of the PST 5 is also fairly solid. At the end of the day, the PST 5 is the kit we would recommend you get if you are indecisive and can’t decide which pack to get. It combines many of the features of the other kits, it’s a little bit affordable, it sounds nice, and it’s constructed fairly well.

Final remarks:

We hope that we have helped clear any confusion you may have had when you started looking for cymbal packs. All the choices on this list are great for starting packs, and we really hope that we have given you the information you need to be able to make the best decision for your preferences.

We have to admit that we can’t really get over how nice the Dream Ignition is, though. If we had to pick one of these packs to be the one we enjoyed the most and is just the most impressive in general, we would definitely pick the Dream Ignition. That higher than average price really does translate into higher quality especially with Dream’s reputation for such high quality cymbals.

If you decide to diverge from this set, or when you move on to buying more advanced packs, keep in mind that it’s more than just about buying the flashiest gear. These tips should help you pick the best pack for your specific needs. First, make sure than you buy cymbals made from B20 bronze; this material really does make a world of difference when it comes to the quality of the sounds. Many of the beginner cymbal packs and drum sets don’t come with B20 bronze cymbals. The best cymbal packs and best drum kits always do. Secondly, figure out if you prefer hand hammered cymbals or machine-manufactured ones. Keep the differences in mind when deciding to purchase. If you prefer the consistency in the sound of machine made cymbals and don’t really care for hand hammered cymbals, you could save some money on higher end cymbal packs.

Most importantly, enjoy playing and getting better!